(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a valve for a fuel cell, more particularly, to a valve for a fuel cell that serves to discharge a fluid in a fuel cell system to the outside or other locations of the fuel cell system.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a fuel cell system is a system that generates electrical energy while producing water by being supplied with oxygen from air and hydrogen used as fuel.
A fuel cell vehicle, which is provided with the fuel cell system, obtains driving power by using a method of operating a motor by using electricity generated by a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell stack, and discharging water, which is produced when electricity is generated, to the outside.
To this end, it is necessary to maintain appropriate pressure and concentration of hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell stack, and to discharge the produced water so that the water does not block flow paths in the fuel cell stack.
In general, to maintain appropriate concentration of hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell stack, a method of discharging gas circulating in the fuel cell stack to the outside and introducing new hydrogen and air has been adopted, and a discharge valve for discharging gas serves this function. In addition, a water discharge valve serves to discharge water, which is discharged from the interior of the fuel cell stack, to the outside or other locations of the fuel cell system.
Because working pressure of the fuel cell system relatively higher than atmospheric pressure, the discharge valve and the water discharge valve must be designed to be able to withstand pressure to be applied to the fuel cell stack. For this reason, as working pressure of the fuel cell system is increased, operating pressure of the discharge valve must be increased, and a stronger spring and a stronger solenoid coil must be applied to the discharge valve so as to satisfy an operating pressure condition. Accordingly, there is a problem in that a volume and a weight of the discharge valve and electric current consumption are increased.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.